Speaking more confidently and boldly than ever and armed with a reconfigured lineup, PHENOCRYST at last deliver their debut album in Cremation Pyre. Another aptly titled record, Cremation Pyre indeed sonically approximates its namesake: somber yet furious, coiling with both inexorable dread and steely-eyed austerity, portentous and spacious in equal measure, and of course MOLTEN. Upon first blush, PHENOCRYST's debut full-length is perhaps purer death metal than its short-length predecessor; riffs are hulking and heaving, with a clearer production imparting a gleaming tank-like sound not unlike mid '90s Bolt Thrower. But even within this seemingly more "standard" carapace, odd & adroit sensations get malformed into miasmic shapes, and what seems like a no-less-awesome iteration of gleaming meat & potatoes DEATH METAL soon starts sliding and slipstreaming into a vortex of cosmic ash as the second half of the album begins to dig in its supernatural claws and frightening spaciousness opens up. And that's to say nothing of the subtly reverberating-into-the-abyss bits of melody dotting this sooty landscape... Forward-thinking traditionalism? Perhaps, but the real beauty of Cremation Pyre is that it's open to myriad interpretations; one only need step into its lava. PHENOCRYST prove, once again, that Only Death is Realer!